Monday, 26 March 2012

Thanh Thanh, Adelaide

Once again I was at work on a Saturday, reading, flipping pages, being in a state of confusion and attempting to finish my project. Lunch is always the highlight of my day, even though most of my lunches are rather boring; tuna in water... tuna in water and/or microwaved vegetables... Vegetables were never meant to be microwaved! This particular Saturday I did not bring a substantial meal with me and therefore decided to meet with Mr L for some pho. But where?!

Pho shop, Charlie's Shack once stood on the corner of Moonta and Grote Street. Unfortunately Charlie has disappeared and has ben replaced by some sort of Asian shaved ice place. Hmm... After googling, I found I could satuisfy my need for pho by paying a visit to Thanh Thanh.

Mr L is a vegan or a vegetarian...something like that (I've seen him drink milk though) and unfortunhately for him the menu options were limited. Lucky for me, I believe in the good old food chain and therefore there were many options available. However, I was only interested in a big bowl of hot pho:)

Ooo big fish. Yum? :P

Mr L ordered the long bean in XO sauce and I ordered a special pho

Do you notice something in the above photo? The waiter gave me chopsticks and gave Mr L a spoon and fork. Why did he not receive chop sticks? I must look slightly more Asian than Mr L.

Long bean in XO sauce, $10.50

Mr L asked the waiter whether this dish contained meat. The waiter said it contained shrimp paste, which Mr L decided he could consume just this once. However, when Mr L received the meal he found it contained little pieces of some sort of meat. He brought this to the attention of the waiting staff and they quickly replaced it with a meat free sauce.

Special beef pho (pho bo dac biet) small, without noodles, $9.50

So Mr L did not want meat and I did not want noodles in my pho. That is right, I did not want noodles in a beef noodle soup. The waiter understood and I was served a lovely big bowl of noodle-less pho. As usual, I received a plate of bean sprouts, chili, lemon, coriander and basil to add to my soup.

I enjoyed the pho very much as it contained a decent amount of beef, meat balls and tendon. The tendon pieces were really big and I liked them very much! Never before had I had such chunky pieces of tendon. There was also some tripe in the soup, but I am too scared to eat it, so just ate around it.

I found that the beef was overcooked, but I think this may be to prevent any sort of potential food poisoning. The beef in pho (at least traditional home cooked pho that I have had the pleasure of eating) is added whilst raw, into the hot broth at the end. It is cut very thinly so that it cooks in the heat of the broth, meaning it is sitll slightly pink when you eat it.

Sauces etc (etc is what I say when I do not know the names of things)

The restuarant is very bright inside. Look at those bamboo plants! I have never seen ones so big before

I went back to Thanh Thanh on a Monday as I had training in the city. Yay training lunches! I tried to be Vietnamese and ordered in Vietnamese. The waitress told me I said everything wrong haha:) But, she understood what I meant...but did not understand why I would order a pho without noodles! Hehe.

In conclusion, I will be back if I ever happen to find myself lunchless in the city again. I wonder if you can ask for extra tendon?

4 comments:

I think it's because Asians don't really understand the concept of allergies such as 'gluten free' and 'grain free' that's probably why :) But at least they were wiling to do it for you ~ I've asked for less noodles because I can never finish it and they always explain to me that they'll charge me the same amount...and that giving me less ins't worth it lol gosh... i know I just want the food the way I want it hehe ~

Glad you found yourself a place to have food for lunch when you go to the city YAY!

Haha:) My grandma does not understand 'gluten/grain free' either...and she is not Asian. I tell her, please no noodles in my chicken soup, they make me sick. So, she serves me noodles in my chicken soup:|They do put a lot of noodles in the soup, you're right. I am amazed by anyone that can finish them all!

I know what you mean about the noodles. I usually leave most of them behind and that's great that they brought it to you noodle-less (well the first time). And hehe my sister asks for a fork and knife but they always bring it to Mr NQN assuming he wants them! :P

Leaving them behind makes me feel bad. It's wasting noodles, that someone who really really likes noodles could have eaten. I would even donate my noodles to someone (considerng they do not lower the price if you ask for no noodles)